Burkina Faso: Dust of the Sun and Traces of Ancient Roads

There are countries that are spoken of in whispers. Not because they are afraid, but because they carefully pass on the secrets of true wanderers. Burkina Faso is one of them. This is not a place for tourists with checklists. This is a country for those who know how to listen: to the wind carrying the smell of dry earth and coal; to the voices of traders gutturally shouting out prices; to the night rhythms of tom-toms that pulse like the heart of Africa itself.

People don’t fly here for five-star comfort. They come here for the journey.

The roads of Burkina Faso do not tolerate fuss. They stretch out like old African legends - long, winding, intersecting at unexpected crossroads. Here, even asphalt seems like an intrusion, because the real Burkina lives on dusty paths. All around are endless savannahs, sun-scorched hills, silhouettes of trees with crowns resembling open palms.

If you are not afraid of getting your boots dusty, you can set off from Ouagadougou, the capital with a musical name. It smells of fried bananas and motorcycle gasoline. In the evening, street markets come alive here, where fried chicken and dogoni, a traditional sorghum beer, are sold for pennies.

But the real journey begins when you leave the city.

In the south of the country, almost on the border with Ghana, lies the tiny village of Tiebele. But its essence is not in its size, but in the fact that here every house is a work of art. The Kassen, a people whose language sounds like pebbles rolling along the bottom of a stream, decorate their houses with geometric patterns. Black, white, terracotta. Each line has a meaning: protection from evil spirits, a wish for fertility, a symbol of ancestors.

Here you can meet elders who tell stories while their fingers slowly glide over the damp clay of the walls. They know: a house is not just a shelter, but a boundary between worlds.

If the savanna is a dry, rusty-red silence, then Banfora is its antipode. Here the water roars, here the Carafiguela waterfalls are hidden in the greenery, resembling natural steps, down which the water flows down - lazily, as if reluctantly.

The domed rocks of Sindu, close to Banfora, look as if giants, playing, once put them together in a chaotic puzzle. They look like animals frozen in stone, whose backs you can climb on if you are not afraid of skinning your knees.

And in the evening it is nice to sit on the edge of a cliff, listen to the chirping of invisible insects, and understand that it is in such places that time loses its power.

Bobo-Dioulasso is a name that can be pronounced like a song. This city is steeped in music: in its heart, among the old colonial buildings, the sound of tom-toms is heard. Music is not a hobby here, but a way of talking to the world.

Local craftsmen make masks that have names and characters. They are not decorative - each belongs to a spirit that will one day come for its face.

If you get to the festival of masks, you can see dances that do not follow a script, but are dictated by the rhythm. The dancer, dressed in a costume, himself becomes an awakened spirit.

Burkina Faso is not a country that leaves tourist cliches in the memory. It is not for everyone. It is for those who understand that beauty can be harsh, that greatness often hides in the shadows, and that the most interesting stories are heard only by those who know how to listen.

This is a country of dusty roads, ancient patterns, live music and masks that look at the world with empty eyes, waiting for a new dance.

Here you learn to see differently.

Here it becomes clear that the road is always more important than the destination.

When to go:

The best time to travel is from November to March. The rains end, the sun does not beat down mercilessly, and the roads still retain the coolness of the nights.

How to get there:

The international airport in Ouagadougou receives flights from Paris, Istanbul and several African capitals.

Where to stay:

• Le Grand Calao (Ouagadougou) - cozy bungalows in African style.
• Villa Rose (Bobo-Dioulasso) - a place with the atmosphere of colonial Africa and morning coffee that you want to drink slowly.
• Relais de Banfora (Banfora) is the best choice for those who want to wake up to the sound of waterfalls.

What to try:

• Riz gras - rice with tomato sauce and meat, sounds simple, but the taste has depth.
• Poulet bicyclette - local chicken, so natural that it seems like it was recently running around the village yard.
• Tô is a thick porridge made from sorghum or millet, eaten with your hands and dipped in aromatic sauces.

What to bring:

• Masks of the Bobo people - but only if you are sure that the spirits do not object.
• Faso danfani fabrics - traditional Burkinabe cotton, hand-woven.
• Tuareg jewelry - silver talismans with geometric desert patterns.

The main rule of travel:

Leave your expectations at home. Burkina Faso is a country that teaches you to observe, not compare.

And then, perhaps, one day you will understand why the old people here say that the most important roads are those that are taken without a goal.